Live on Press Release!

This article by journalist Tom Foremski discusses his hatred of the standard press release. He finds them nearly useless, full of top-spin, pat-on-the-back phrases and meaningless quotes. He offers a solution which is to deconstruct the press release:

"-Provide a brief description of what the announcement is, but leave the spin to the journalists. The journalists are going to go with their own spin on the story anyway, so why bother? Keep it straightforward rather than spintastic.

-Provide a page of quotes from the CEO or other C-level execs.

-Provide a page of quotes from customers, if applicable.

-Provide a page of quotes from analysts, if applicable.

-Provide financial information in many different formats.

-Provide many links inside the press release copy, and also provide a whole page of relevant links to other news stories or reference sources."


I disagree a little with Foremski's views. I think that the press release is still a valuable material. Journalists are not always so quick to throw them out if you have targeted your news media and audience correctly. If you format the release in a way which appeals to the journalist and makes he or she think that it will appeal to their audience, you've reeled them in.

As a student striving to learn more about the PR field, I have recently started understanding media pitching. To me there are two types of ways you should pitch to the media - depending on what you are pitching and the audience to whom you are pitching.

One way to pitch is with the traditional press release. This is useful in circumstances that you have all of the information and want to have more control over the direction of the story. You simply pitch to the media the information, with the story that you would like them to cover. Foremski is right in that most journalists will add spin to the story and make it their own, but if you present the information in a way that is appealing to them, they will pick it up!

Another way to pitch is with a news advisory. This is used when you have some sort of important news that the journalist will most likely be interested in. You have no real story or way you would like to present the information. You list the who, what, where, when and why of the information and hope that the news or event appeals to the journalist.

To me, Foremski's suggestion to get rid of these traditional ways of pitching and simply give the journalist everything he or she needs to make a story is not an effective way to get your pitch picked up. The journalist will be getting all of the information, but he or she may not see exactly how it appeals to their audience. By formatting the story in a press release, you have more control to pitch the story in a way that appeals to the media's audience.

I support the traditional press release! And by the looks of things...so do most all PR professionals and journalists since things still have not changed.